Nabiki Tendo: Rise of an Empire
by E. 0rchid
Summary: A tale of love, hate, desperation, confusion, politics, death, and drama. This is the story of Nabiki Tendo's rise to power and the epic battles and sorrows that ensued. In summation, EO's attempt at being epic. AU Crossover w/Gunnm and possibly others.


Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, Gunnm, or any of the other series that may be included within the context of this fan fiction. Ranma ½ is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Gunnm the work of Yukito Kishiro, and the other works presented are owned by their respective authors and those who hold the copyrights. Furthermore, as this is work of non-for-profit fan fiction, I would humbly request that this work not be reposted outside of its current context without my expressed consent. Thank you very much, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy the fic!

_**Additional Disclaimer: Warning! This is an AU (Alternate Universe) and Crossover work of fan fiction. If any, or all, of the elements associated with either genre are not to your particular liking it is kindly, and humbly, suggested that you discontinue reading from this point and resume your search elsewhere. Henceforth you have been warned and continue to read at your own discretion…**_

_**Also, some of you may consider the introduction to be something of spoiler so it is suggested that if you have a sensitivity toward intros that give away any of the future of the fic I suggest that you simply skip past it until you get to the page break and read from there…**_

_**Genres**_**: Sci-fi/Action-Adventure/Drama/ with some dark elements and a few philosophical points thrown in for good measure. ******

-----------------------------------------------------------------

_**Ebony Orchid is Proud to Present:**_

_**Nabiki Tendo: Rise of an Empire**_

---------------------------------------------------------------

_**Amazon Arc-**_

**Chapter 01****: Origins…**

Calm and serene were the only words that could describe the starry heavens. The jet black skies were clear and cool with a glorious, if not ominous, pale full moon hanging in the freckled night sky. However, there was a certain sense of irony associated with the peaceful seen from above, because down below, on the planets marred surface, there was nothing but absolute chaos.

Below the heavens massive, brilliant, red-orange fires blazed, smoke and smog, thick and black, billowed up towards the speckled skies, and thousands of bloodcurdling screams could be heard for kilometers around. Thousands of homes, traditionally Japanese in architecture, and tens of once lofty skyscrapers had been reduced to ash, molten metal, and rapidly deteriorating foundations. The streets harbored the bodies of the dead and near dying as fires blazed around them inevitably consuming them and wiping them away. Thousands more were running as fast as their legs would carry them, reaching out for loved ones, pushing, shoving, and clawing through the chaos. And all of this was being viewed by one particular young woman from her safe perch above.

In all honesty, things weren't supposed to be like this as far as she was concerned. The perfect and precise plans she had laid out were meant to ensure that the transition would be painless and that casualties would be kept to as low a minimum as possible. However, as luck, or lack thereof, would have it her plans, or at least those that would have insured that there wouldn't be as much suffering as there was at that very moment, had been dashed by the naiveté of a foolish group of "heroes", if that was what they wished to call themselves. Of course she had anticipated that someone would try to stop her, and her plans had been crafted around the very group which was attempting to thwart her grand design. However, new additions to their fold and other relatively incalculable elements and events had thrown everything into disarray. Not that it would keep her from achieving her goals.

No, Nabiki Tendo had sacrificed far too much, had endured too much, mentally, physically and emotionally, and had gotten too far to be stopped now. To her the only way that things could possibly end would either be with the realization of her empire, or her demise, the former being preferential but that latter having a somewhat statically low probability of occurring. Even so, she was confident she would win; after all she had won a great deal by now, so she was relatively unconcerned with the alarms blaring and the various red holographic monitors flashing around her.

"Ma'am! We have a breach just outside the bridge! What are we going to do?!" a young woman, donning a tight fitting red and white futuristic blazer/skirt combination, with vibrant pink hair that cascaded down to the small of her back cried, her cerulean blue eyes full of fear and doubt, as she spun around in her hovering white-metallic chair to face the woman who stood at the center of the bridge fearlessly.

Donning a chic black single breasted blazer with a strange blood red design running up the lapel, a black skirt which was slightly higher that knee length, a white dress shirt, a blood red tie, and a black beret with a red raven design on the side the young brunette surely looked intimidating. In fact she looked somewhat alluring since most of her clothing was fairly tight fitting, complementing her busty figure, and the beret complemented her page boy haircut nicely.

"Don't tell me you're getting worried Kai-chan?" Nabiki questioned sarcastically as she shot the girl a smug smirk. "I anticipated that he'd get here sooner or later, so I've got a special treat for him already waiting. There's no need to panic," Nabiki stated comfortingly as the girl below her stared at her skeptically for a moment before hesitantly nodding and turning back to her hovering computer module and holographic screen. Nabiki knew that the girl was still skeptical about what she could possibly still have up her sleeve at this point, but she also knew that the girl trusted her unconditionally and that she wouldn't question her word.

Turning her gaze away from Kaiya, the domineering brunette looked over the faces of her worried crew. All of them were donning uniforms similar to Kaiya's, the males' being the male equivalent, and they all seemed just as skeptical as the pink haired girl as it concerned Nabiki's plan.

This didn't faze Nabiki however, since she knew they'd follow the orders given to them even if they felt differently. The brunette then turned her attention toward the ship itself. She still couldn't believe that she was now the commander of something so powerful, but she knew it felt good.

'After all, it's not everyday that you gain control of the most powerful weapon in the known universe,' Nabiki thought to herself with a smug smile as she looked over the room. The bridge itself was a long, wide, metallic walkway that extended from the thick, metallic blast doors and circled out at the end with only one high-tech computer module at the very edge. The rest of the room was filled with various hovering chairs, holographic screens of multiple colors, some solid metallic computer screens, and holographic and metallic modules. The room itself was nothing more then what appeared to be a giant glass orb that connected with a foreign type of shiny blue metal that comprised the back of the room and attached the otherwise floating orb to the ship. To Nabiki the flagship, which was actually rather small compared to the rest of the airships, was the most beautiful, and frighteningly powerful, thing she had ever seen.

Sure she was flanked on all sides with dozens of other airships similar to it, all of which were actually almost two times large, but the flagship was unique in the fact that not only was it the fastest airship but it's secret weapon was far more devastating than anything the other ships could ever hope to compare to.

"And that is why I cannot lose," Nabiki muttered to herself as her smug smile was wiped clean off her face and was almost immediately replaced with a scowl. However, her scowl was equally short lived as she heard the tale-tell earth shaking explosion of the blast doors being blown apart and almost clean off. Without turning around to face her guest Nabiki smiled ruefully and said, rather cockily, "I was wondering how long it was going to take you to get here…Ranma." However, what she heard next nearly caused her heart to stop cold.

"Bzzzt! Wrong answer Biki. But I'll be sporting and give you another try, hehe."

Nabiki's eyes were now as wide as saucers and her mouth agape as she slowly turned to face the doors, her mind all the while telling her it was impossible. She didn't want to hope, she didn't want to believe, but most of all she prayed that it wasn't him for he, at this point, could unravel all of her carefully thought out campaign. However, as she finally finished turning and saw the shadowy figure carefully hidden behind the now molten remains of the giant blast doors she knew that her prayers had not been answered.

"Ryouga!" she gasped, tears starting to form in her eyes against her will as she tried to force herself to remain calm. She knew if she lost her composure that would be one more thing working against her, and she knew that the boy before her could practically taste fear when it was present. However, whether it was the hidden happiness that had erupted from her heart or the rage and confusion that lay thick at the surface, she knew that she was loosing her prized ability to control her emotions. Her poker face was starting to slip and she simply couldn't allow that to happen.

"Wow, you got it right that time. Way to go," the Eternally Lost Boy chimed sarcastically as he stepped into view. To Nabiki he looked exactly the same, at least physically, since the last time she had seen him. He still wore his hideous, in her opinion, mustard yellow shirt, loose fitting black pants, and his trademark yellow and black spotted bandana. His hair, thick and black, hung off his head like a mop, he was still just as muscular as she remembered, and his fangs, she noted as he smirked, were still as white and pristine as ever. In fact, the only difference that struck her was the lost boy's eyes, but the difference was so significant that it struck her like a Mac truck. Gone was the teenage innocence once contained in the boy's chocolate brown eyes; now there only existed a violent mishmash of rage, sorrow, and bitterness. In fact, she was almost afraid that he was preparing for a Shi Shi Hokodan.

"B-B-But it can't be!" Nabiki stuttered out, her eyes still wide, was she pointed a finger vehemently at the young man before her. 'He's supposed to be dead! I watched him die! I saw it all! The blood, the…Kami, there's no way he can still be alive,' Nabiki thought to herself disbelievingly as Ryouga continued to approach her, still smirking, as she subconsciously backed up toward the module only a few meters behind her.

"Yeah, I thought you'd say that," Ryouga stated as he abruptly stopped his dutiful stride and stared directly into Nabiki's eyes, her eyes, trying desperately trying not to betray her emotions, cold and steely with a hint of disbelief, and his own now filled with sorrow. "Why are you doing this Nabiki? You don't need to do this. In fact, if you stop now, if you end this, there's a chance that you can make amends," the lost boy began as he slowly reached behind his back and pulled out his trademark red umbrella. "Don't make me do this Nabiki. I don't want to have to go through with this, but I can't allow anymore innocent people to get hurt.

It was the truth, he didn't want to have anyone's blood on his hands, especially not that of a woman's. However, after everything that he had been through, everything that he had suffered through…no, after everything they all had suffered through he knew he had to bring the nightmare to an end. People, he noted as he stared out of the giant glass bubble past Nabiki and toward the horrific scene below, were still suffering. 'I can't let this continue. No matter what, this ends here,' the lost boy thought to himself with a frown as he turned his gaze back toward Nabiki expectantly and noticed that she was staring at him impassively as she crossed her arms over her ample bust.

"I doubt someone as simple as you could understand, Hibiki, so I'm not even going to bother trying to explain the multiple reasons why. What I will say is that it will be a cold day in hell before I give up everything I've obtained. The only way this is going to end is either with my victory or my funeral," Nabiki stated coldly as she unfolded her arms and reached back toward the console.

"Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't say that," Ryouga muttered to himself angrily as he slanted his eyes and adopted his signature fighting stance before bellowing, "Well then…NABIKI TENDO PREPARE TO DIE!" With that he leapt at her, far faster than she had anticipated him being capable of, and prepared to bring his umbrella down on her head.

"Oh hell," Nabiki deadpanned as she quickly slapped a glowing green button on the console and dived out of the way just soon enough that Ryouga's umbrella just barely missed grazing her leg by a mere centimeter. The console wasn't so fortunate, however, as he brought umbrella down on it and complete obliterated it, sending bits of shrapnel, keys, and smoking debris spraying out throughout the bridge. Screams of horror echoed throughout the room, and Nabiki hissed and cursed as she felt a piece of metal scrape her calf creating a shallow cut and drawing blood. Even so she found it in her to smile a wicked smile.

"Not bad Biki, I honestly didn't expect you to move that fast," Ryouga muttered as he pulled his umbrella out of the sparking remains of what used to be the main console and aimed it at a smirking Nabiki once more. 'Wait a minute, why is she smirking?' Ryouga thought to himself worriedly, a puzzled expression forming on his face, as he noticed Nabiki's eyes staring at something slightly off to his side and followed them. Steam, lots of steam, cold and moist, rose up from the center circle of the bridge as a giant glass cylinder filled with some kind of green liquid rose with the steam. What Ryouga saw within that glass cylinder, however, made his heart stop and his mouth go slack jaw.

"Gally!" he gasped, a hint of rage, surprise, and hope filling his voice as he gazed upon the contents of the cylinder.

Within the tube, floating serenely within the sea of green, was a striking young woman with shoulder length jet black hair floating around her child like face. There were two pieces of what appeared to be metal forming her neck and part of her checks just below her eyes. Her body, which also appeared to be made of the same metal and looked like a skin tight suit, looked to be that of young girl's, no older than 17, with a slightly ample bust. Her full lips were slightly pouted and her hands somewhat tensed which immediately set Ryouga on edge.

"You know, I was saving her for Ranma. However, now that I think about it, this is far more perfect. 'Eh loverboy?" Nabiki questioned, still smirking wickedly, as watched the contents of the tube drain out and leave the girl standing within the glass, her eyes still closed, with her fist clenched.

Ryouga could barely contain his rage as he whipped his head toward Nabiki and growled. "What did you do to her!" he snapped as Nabiki simply shrugged and adopted her usual emotionless expression. "Oh, just a little loyalty readjustment. By the way you only have about three seconds to attack me before she breaks through the glass," Nabiki stated both casually and evilly as Ryouga loosed a bloodlust roar and charged the girl, his umbrella cocked back and ready to strike.

"NABIKI!" the lost boy bellowed as he prepared to bring his umbrella down once again. However, the sound of shattering glass cued that he was far too late as he watched him umbrella get deflected off of an obscenely powerful dainty wrist. "Damn it!" Ryouga snapped as he leapt back and snarled at Nabiki before looking up toward her defender.

"Target confirmed as Hibiki Ryouga. Potential Threat status…Extremely Dangerous and is to be terminated as quickly as possible," the girl, Gally, stated in a cold emotionless tone as she regarded Ryouga with soulless and impassive brown eyes before adopting a strange fighting stance.

"Just tell me one thing Nabiki, how did you do it?" Ryouga growled out as he slanted his eyes and hesitantly brought up his umbrella in defensive position.

"Hehe, it's amazing what you can do with a Mind Atomizer Chip," Nabiki stated as she confidently rose to her feet tapping the side of her head and smirking victoriously.

"Tch, I should have known it would have been something like that," Ryouga muttered to himself, smirking against his will. What could he say, if there was anyone he had to respect for being downright dastardly the only person he could name would be Nabiki. "Funny how all of this started, 'eh?" the lost boy said.

"Yeah, it's really funny," Nabiki replied, her smirk faltering somewhat as she recalled the events that had led to this very moment…

"By the way, how in the hell did you actually find your way onto the ship?!"

"…"

---------------------------------------------------------

"Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane!" bellowed a baritone and jovial voice.

"Huh?" Nabiki muttered as she looked up from her "Stylista" magazine with a slight frown marring her features. She knew that her father had just called for her, but it was around 95 degrees outside, thick with choking humidity, and any movement on her part, even the simple act off actually getting off of her bed, would create friction and more body heat. As it was she was practically sweating through her red tank top and khaki shorts despite her beside fan. Indeed, it seemed relatively unlikely that Nabiki Tendo was going to actually get up.

Turning back to magazine, Nabiki casually to a sip of the ice cold lemonade from the glass beside her before looking over a section of fashion do's and don'ts. In fact, she was so engrossed in her magazine that she almost didn't notice someone step into her room.

"Nabiki, father has called for a family meeting. You wouldn't mind joining us downstairs would you?" a pretty young woman donning a yellow blouse, red skirt, and a pristine white apron inquired politely from the doorway drawing Nabiki's attention. Her hair, which was long and brown, was tied back into a loose ponytail and she wore a blissful smile on her motherly face.

Nabiki, who truly wanted to look annoyed at the request, knew it would be futile to get upset with the young woman before her and simply nodded. "Sure, I'll be there in a second Kasumi," Nabiki replied as the brunette in the doorway simply smiled and nodded before turning and leaving. Nabiki was half tempted to turn back and begin reading her magazine after her sister left, but she realized that she didn't have the heart and simply flipped it shut before groaning loudly and pushing herself off of the bed.

"This had better be good," the middle Tendo muttered with a slight scowl as she made her way out her room and down the hallway toward the stairs.

---------------------------------------------------------------

"I already told you old man, I ain't goin'! And don't even start with that guilt trip crap, you're the one who wanted to go there in the first place!" snapped an angry raven haired youth, his hair being tied back into a long pigtail, as he stalked down a crowded street, passing several rustic looking stores, fuming. It was clear that the young man was enraged, the rage in his cobalt blue eyes and the scowl on his face attested to that, and he seemed to be something of a martial artist judging by his clothing, a sleeveless red Chinese style shirt and loose black kung fu pants, as well as his muscular physique. However, it was neither his clothing nor his disposition that earned him the confused and apprehensive stares of those around him. No, those stares were earned by the giant red sloth that lumbered behind him holding up a set of poorly constructed signs which displayed even poorer writing.

'But it's a matter of honor!' decried one sign from the sloth's hand, which he threw in front of the boy, before he threw another which read, 'Besides, my curse is a lot worse than yours and you're the one who took all the hot water, so you owe me this!'

"I don't owe you anything old man and this ain't a matter of honor! This was all your fault anyway even if you didn't actually do anything but take me there! It's still your fault!" the young man snapped as he whipped around to face the sloth, still snarling. He wasn't sure how the overgrown shag rug had actually expected him to go along with his ill forged plans, but there was one thing he knew for certain. "I'm not goin' to meet no fiancées! I'm going back to China to get a cure!" snapped the young man as the sloth before him simply frowned and shook it's head balefully before whipping out another sign and scribbling something on it.

'Well then, my ungrateful son, you leave me no choice,' the sloth's sign read as he shot the boy a faux sorrowful glance which immediately set the boy on edge.

"Hey just what are you planning?!" the raven haired martial artist snapped as he got into a defensive stance just in time to duck as the sloth's sign hurtled right past his head with a loud buzzing sound. "HA! Was that the best you've got old man?!" the young martial artist snapped as he cracked his knuckles menacingly before he noticed that he sloth was smiling at him sadistically, with long sickeningly yellow teeth, and chuckling. "And just what are you laughing at?" the young man questioned wearily, securing his stance even more as his danger sense flared up violently, as he watched the chuckling sloth point just above his head.

"Oh heck," the raven haired boy deadpanned, his expression blank, as he looked up just in time to have a pub sign come crashing down on his head.

'Hehe, that what's you get for being overconfident boy,' the sloth wrote out, ignoring the cries of horror around him and the angry curses of the foreigner that had rushed out of the rustic, wooden, European looking pub waving his arms angrily, and casually strode over to the boy's unconscious form before scooping him up and hefting him over his shoulder. Then, continuing to ignore the cries around him, the sloth plodded down the street in a painfully slow manner with a sign that read, 'Damn, it would have been so much better if I transformed into a panda or something…"

------------------------------------------------------------

"So let me get this straight, you want us to get married to some guy's son that you've never even seen before?" Nabiki deadpanned as she looked across the polished wooden table at a middle aged man with long jet black hair, a bushy mustache, and donning a forest green gi and karate pants.

"Well, yes, I suppose that's correct," older man admitted with a pensive look on his face as he started to stroke his chin thoughtfully. When the girl put it that way it did sound pretty bad. 'Bah! That's nonsense! This is Saotome's son, I'm sure he's a striking, respectable lad just like his father!' Soun thought to himself with a wide cheesy grin forming on his face. "I'm sure that you girl's will be delighted when you finally get a chance to meet the boy, after all my good friend Genma is sure to have raised a fine young man that you all will find worthy,' Soun stated jovially as Nabiki simply rolled her eyes, Kasumi simply giggled, though she did look slightly worried if one looked close enough, and Akane simply growled at her father from across the table.

"Oh my, I hope that he's older at least. Younger men are just so…young," Kasumi muttered to herself with a hint of anxiousness lacing her tone.

'Well I'll give him a shot as long as he's cute, but I wouldn't be surprised if Akane didn't pummel him as soon as he walks through the door,' Nabiki thought to herself with a smirk as she looked over at the black haired girl beside her, donning a sweaty off-white gi and karate pants, who looked ready to either strangle her father or kill her potential fiancé as soon as he walked through the door. Or she might simply explode in her usual fit of anger, which Nabiki actually wagered would be what would happen.

"There's no way I'm getting married to some boy! Boy's are just sex crazed perverts!" Akane snapped as Nabiki mentally snapped her fingers.

'I love it when I'm right,' the brunette thought to herself with smirk as she watched Akane glare at their now cowering father.

"But I'm sure he'll be a very nice boy, and likely not a sex crazed pervert!" Soun exclaimed in his defense as Akane continued to glare down at him.

"**I. Don't. CARE!**" Akane bellowed and was about to go into every detail as to why when the doorbell abruptly rang distracting her and allowing her father to retreat.

"I'll get it!" Soun cried, only too happy to escape his youngest daughter's wrath. He noted that Nabiki had also got up to join him saying, "I hope he's cute." 'Well that's at least one potential fiancée for the boy,' Soun thought to himself with smile forming on his lips as he walked down the hall toward the front door, being careful not to scuff the wood that Kasumi had just vanished polishing so well and also to avoid slipping.

"Well then, how can I help you," Soun greeted with a warm smile as he opened the door only to be greeted by a smiling mouth full of rather pointed, yellow, teeth of what appeared to be a Bigfoot. "Oh dear," Soun deadpanned, his face blank, as he slowly began to back away from the door.

"KAMI! Daddy what is that?!" Nabiki exclaimed, clearly horrified, as she arrived at the front door with Kasumi and Akane slowly bringing up the rear.

"My dear child I'm afraid I have no idea," Soun explained in an unnervingly calm fashion as he turned to face his daughters with a dispassionate look on his face. It was the truth, though the disgusted look on Nabiki's face as she backed away seemed to say, "Yeah right, who are you kidding old man?"

"Yeah daddy, giant freakish creatures just show up at our door all the time don't they," Nabiki deadpanned as she rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Um, yes?" Soun replied casually as it was now clear that he was simply trying not to make any sudden moves and keep his calm so as not to alarm the creature and have it attack him. However, the older man nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a long black claw gently tap him on the shoulder. Soun then quickly whipped around to face the creature as he watched it laid the body of a striking young boy at his feet. After that there was nothing but completely silence and horrified glances throughout the room, except for the sloth who looked rather puzzled as it scratched the top of its head in confusion.

3

2

1…

"OH MY GOD! IT MURDERED THAT BOY!" Akane cried out in horror as she quickly adopted a nervous fighting stance. "EVERYONE GET BEHIND ME! I'LL TRY TO FIGHT IT OFF!" Akane cried out again as everyone present scrambled behind her.

"Oh my god! Daddy do something!" Nabiki exclaimed in horror as her father looked at her as if she had gone insane. 'He's so useless,' Nabiki thought to herself with a deep frown finding it's way onto her features.

"D-D-Don't worry guys, I'll handle this!" Akane exclaimed, her voice cracking all the while, as she put on a show of false bravado.

Meanwhile the sloth, who had started to understand what was going on, waved its arms around in as placating a motion as it could. However this proved to be a fatal mistake…

"OH MY GOD IT'S GETTING READY TO ATTACK AGAIN! I WON'T LET YOU HURT MY FAMILY YOU DEMON!" Akane cried out frantically as she sprang into action against the surprised creature who could only try to back peddle away. Unfortunately the misunderstood sloth was far to slow to dodge or to move back far enough and quickly became acquainted with heel of Akane's foot as she sprang at him with a flying kick that buried itself squarely in his jaw sending him flying in a sea of drool as his head snapped back painfully. The creature then landed outside of the house with a loud thud that caused the foundations of the house to shake, but the creature itself remained down.

"Huh? I got him?" Akane muttered to herself in disbelief as she landed on her feet with a surprised look on her face as she looked down at the unconscious creature before her before noticing that her foot felt slimy and wet. Looking down she absently took note of the fact that her foot seemed to be covered in the creature's drool which caused her to shudder, but she held her composure. Yes, she determined as she looked up from her foot, she had knocked the creature out cold. "Hey, I did it! I defeated a demon!" Akane exclaimed joyfully as pumped a fist into the air victoriously while Nabiki simply rolled her eyes and decided to step forward to check on the young man.

Kneeling down beside the boy, Nabiki placed her fingers on his neck and checked for a pulse. 'Well what do you know,' she thought to herself with a smirk, 'he's still alive, and he's kind of cute.' It was at that moment that she decided the Ranma boy might have to wait.

"Oh my, I hope you didn't hurt the poor creature too badly. Somehow I think it's rather harmless actually," Kasumi said worriedly, her smile still in place, as she began to walk forward as well. "Oh, Nabiki! Is the boy alright after all?" the serene brunette inquired with a hopeful stare and smiled when Nabiki nodded.

"Yeah, he's alive, I think he's just unconscious," Nabiki said as she stood up, and started to walk back toward the kitchen.

"Where are you going sis?" Akane inquired with a puzzled expression on her face as she watched her sister pass her father, who looked equally confused.

"To get some water of course," Nabiki called back in a matter-of-fact sort of way, but was stopped dead in her tracks when Kasumi piped up saying.

"Oh my, it would be terribly rude to pour cold water on the poor boy, please make sure it's warm Nabiki," Kasumi said with a polite smile as Soun passed her and scooped the boy up before proceeding to take him into the living room.

Nabiki simply shrugged and nodded in response to her sister's request as she entered the kitchen and filled a glass with some warm water.

Five minutes, and a sputtering pigtailed boy, later the group found themselves waiting expectantly for the boy to finish coming to as the sun began to set blanketing the sparsely decorated room in a sea of soft oranges, reds, and violets. Aside from an averaged sized television, a coffee table, a red love seat, and a couch there was little in the room where the group had currently huddled themselves.

"Ugh, where am I?" the boy groaned as clutched his aching head, frowning deeply, and began to rise.

"It's okay, take your time, I'm sure you've had quite a harrowing experience," Kasumi said as she gently pushed the young man back down onto the cushy red sofa.

"Yes, take your time and rest m'boy. You're safe from that dangerous beast here," Soun stated with a sharp nod.

"Man, I'm gonna kill Pop for knocking me out like that," the young boy muttered to himself as he allowed his eyes to adjust to the light. It was also at that moment that all three girls took note of how beautiful his cobalt blue eyes were.

'Oh yeah, forget Ranma, this guy is so mine,' Nabiki thought to herself with a predatory smirk forming on her lips as the boy began to rise once again.

"So, how are you feeling?" Kasumi inquired as the boy started to rub the stiffness out of his joints.

"Better, thanks," the boy replied with a small smile directed toward the young woman, which she politely returned. "Hey, could you tell me where I'm at?" the young man inquired as he started to turn and sit up.

"Certainly, we're the Tendo's and this is our home," came Soun's reply as he smiled down at the young man only to note that the boy's eyes went wide with horror when he said the word Tendo.

"Damn that old man, he actually managed to get me here," Ranma muttered under his breath so low that his hosts couldn't hear him.

"So what's you name?" Akane chimed in with a small frown finding its way onto her face. She was happy the boy was okay, and he really did have some beautiful eyes, but she didn't want a hormonally driven boy in her house any longer then he needed to be. The sooner they got through the pleasantries the better as far as she was concerned.

"Uh, actually it's Ranma, Saotome Ranma, sorry about all this," the boy stated with a sheepish/nervous smile as he scratched the nape of his neck sheepishly. 'Hopefully Pop didn't say anything about me and I can get the heck out of here,' the youth thought to himself hopefully before his hope was crushed, literally, when the middle aged man known as Soun Tendo grabbed him up into a bone crunching bear hug, tears of joy streaming down his cheeks.

"Oh what a glorious day!" Soun exclaimed as he twirled Ranma around in his arms, "I'm so happy to hear that you've finally arrived!"

Meanwhile Nabiki was lost in her own train of thought. 'So he's Ranma?!' she thought to herself somewhat wide eyed for a moment before her predatory smirk found its way back onto her lips again. 'Well then, I suppose I wouldn't mind this engagement thing after all. I mean I can always pass him onto to Akane or Kasumi if things don't work out after all,' the middle Tendo daughter rationalized to herself as she watched Ranma pry himself out of Soun's arms.

"Uh, yeah, right. Well I'm just going to be going now, sorry to intrude," the young man stated with a nervous smile as he took one more moment to catch his breath before turning to leave…only to be nearly knocked out by a giant paw.

"Oh no!" Akane cried out in horror as she quickly adopted her fighting stance again and prepared to strike.

"Oh dear!" Soun exclaimed, his eyes wide, as he dove behind Akane once again.

"Oh my!" Kasumi exclaimed as she held her hands over her heart as though she was experiencing a heart attack.

"Oh brother," Nabiki deadpanned as she rolled her eyes and glared at the giant creature before her.

'Now just hold on a second!' read a sign that the creature seemed to fish out of thin air before he pulled a kettle full of steaming hot water out from behind his back and raised it over his head. Emptying the contents of said kettle, the figure of a sloth quick transformed into the form of a naked, bespectacled, bald, and portly man who was smirking from ear to ear.

"It's good to see you again TendGAHHH!" the man cried out in pain as Akane landed a vicious haymaker on him sending him slamming onto the hardwood floor.

"PERVERT!" bellowed a snarling Akane, her eyes filled to the brim with rage, disgust, and horror as she prepared to lash out once again. However, she stopped dead in her tracks when her father began to the approach the man uncertainly.

"Saotome?" Soun questioned as the man on the floor nodded weakly in response. Soun's response was almost just as instantaneous as it had been with Ranma…except he actually stopped himself when he quickly remembered his friend was stark naked. "Uh, Kasumi, would you mind retrieving some clothes for my old friend?" the mustached man inquired as Kasumi, who looked, if one looked close enough and squinted really hard, somewhat disgusted, simply nodded an went to retrieve the articles.

"Okay, what just happened here?" Nabiki questioned, staring in disbelief at the scene that had just occurred. 'Did that creature just transform into a man…'er, well I think it's a man, although it kind of resembles a blob,' Nabiki thought to herself as she noted Ranma rising to his feet with a scowl on his face.

"Something tells me things are about to get really weird, really quickly around here…"

------------------------------------------------------

"So how did this happen dear friend?" Soun inquired with a puzzled expression on his face as he looked over toward his friend and his son from their position across the table.

"I'll tell you in a moment dear friend, but first I believe we have some other business we need to address," Genma stated with a firm expression of resolve on his features that Soun immediately adopted. Ranma simply rolled his eyes and exhaled a beleaguered sigh that was matched by Akane. Nabiki and Kasumi knew what was coming as well, but decided to remain silent for the moment.

"Quite right Saotome," the mustached man responded as he turned his gaze toward Ranma. "Now then, my boy, I'll leave it to you and my daughter's to decide, but first allow me to introduce you. There's my daughter Kasumi, 19, Nabiki, 17, and Akane who is 16," Soun said but was abruptly cut off by Nabiki.

"Well I'm sure Kasumi's not interested since she doesn't like younger men," the middle Tendo stated and was greeted by a surprised "Oh my" which she promptly ignored before adding, "And Akane hates boys, so I suppose there aren't too many other options." 'Ooo, maybe I was a bit too forward there. Damn, get control of yourself Nabiki, yeah he's cute but he's not **that **cute,' the brunette thought to herself with a slight frown. However, she had presented a rather factual argument, which was hard to dispute, and it wasn't like the other two were interested anyway.

"Nabiki does have a point daddy," Kasumi conceded. While she was a bit upset that Nabiki would lash out so quickly it wasn't that surprising. She had recognized the childish "MINE" look in her little sister's eyes almost immediately, especially since she had had to deal with it since the girl was a toddler. However, her sister was right, while Ranma was definitely attractive he did seem as though he might be a little on the immature side. Yes, in the end she would put up no arguments, if only to simply keep the peace she tried so hard to maintain.

Akane, too, was a little upset but conceded to Nabiki's point. She didn't really want to have to deal with the pervert boy, even if he was kind of cute. She knew that it would only be a matter of time until the boy was trying to cop a feel or peep on her like the rest of the perverts she went to school with. 'All men are the same,' she thought to herself disgustedly as she folded her arms over her modest bosom and glowered at no one and nothing in particular.

"Well then I guess it's decided," Soun stated, somewhat surprised as he turned toward his old friend and nodded.

Ranma was about to chime in with an indignant comment before Genma forcefully cut him off. "You're right, it seems that it's been decided. Nabiki and Ranma are to be engaged then," Genma stated as he adjusted his glasses and nodded sharply.

Ranma opened his mouth once again in order to object when he was cut of by Soun who said, "Quite right, now, tell me how you came upon such a bizarre curse old friend. It's like nothing I've ever seen."

"Now just wait a minute!" Ranma snapped indignantly and was about to add more before his father cut him off.

"Right, well it all started when-"

"HEY!" Ranma bellowed angrily as he glared at his father, only to be forced to dodge a fist aimed at his head.

"Silence boy! The adults are speaking here!" Genma snapped as he shot a glare at the boy in question before turning his attention back toward Soun. "Now where was I?" Genma questioned before his head was jolted back violently by a vicious kick to the head from Ranma, who was now snarling. "Ungrateful boy," Genma muttered, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his head as he attempted to continue his story.

"I'm trying to tell you that I ain't-" Ranma began before he was cut off by Soun.

"You said it all started when," Soun supplied as Genma nodded and continued.

"Good grief," Ranma muttered to himself, although now that he thought about it maybe he should let his father tell the story. After all, it might get him out of the engagement if they found out what happen. He didn't really like the secret of his curse being spread around, but this seemed like an acceptable predicament to let it go. 'Yeah, this might just work out,' Ranma thought to himself with a devious smirk as he allowed his old man to continue.

"Yes, it all started when we visited the Legendary Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo…"

-------------------------

**Mt. Quanjing, Qinghai Province, China**

"So this is it, huh?" Ranma, who was now donning a white gi and karate pants, questioned as he looked over the scene before him while adjusting the pack on his back.

"Yes, these are the Legendary Cursed Springs," Genma replied darkly as he adjusted his glasses slightly and looked over the terrain and adjusted his pack as well before tossing it on to the ground.

"Tch, it doesn't look all that special to me," Ranma muttered as he slowly lowered his pack onto the ground and stretched a bit. It was true, as far as he could tell Jusenkyo was nothing more than a bunch of bamboo chutes sticking up out of hundreds of pools of water, some big and some small, with marshy dark green grass in between. However, a warning voice spoke up from beside them.

A portly man donning a green jumpsuit and a forest green red star hat had started to spout some warning, but Genma, as it seemed to Ranma, seemed to deem it unimportant as he leapt up onto one of the bamboo chutes.

"Come on boy! I haven't got all day," Genma shot at Ranma, who simply smirked and furrowed his eyebrows at the older man before leaping up onto a bamboo chute as well.

"I hope you're ready old man, because I'm going to take you down," the pigtailed martial artist quipped as he adopted an offensive fighting stance and watched his father adopt a defensive one.

"Come then boy, enough talk," the bespectacled man shot back menacingly with a confident smirk finding its way onto his lips.

"Well then, block this!" Ranma snapped as he sprang into action, catapulting himself off of shoot and lashing out at his father with a dizzying array of kicks and punches. For his part Genma expertly deflected the blows before countering with a series of his own. Lashing out with a lightning quick high Genma just barely grazed Ranma's shoulder, but the pigtailed martial artist immediately countered with a lighting quick punch to the portly man's shoulder which nearly knocked him off balance, but he managed to recover quickly enough to leap over onto another bamboo chute.

"Not bad boy, you're improving," Genma stated as he prepared to engaged Ranma again, who had landed on a nearby chaut smirking.

"I wish I could say the same about you Pop, it looks like you're slowin' down," Ranma said as he leapt at his father once again, this time with the portly man leaping back at him. The duo danced in midair unleashing a series of blindingly quick punches and kicks that either grazed one another or were easily deflected. It was clear, however, that during this particular fight Ranma held the advantage due to his lighter frame.

Genma tried to lash out at Ranma with another high kick, but they young man, who had anticipated the blow, easily deflected it before landing a solid kick to the older man's chest which managed to wind him just enough for the pigtailed youth to add an ax kick which sent the portly man plummeting into one of the pools below. He noted that the old man's trajectory changed however, when a powerful breeze, that nearly knocked him off of his own perch, sent to portly man rolling over in the direction of another pool.

"HA! Gotcha Pop!" Ranma exclaimed victoriously, ignoring the oddly powerful gust of wind, as he landed on a nearby chute and started down at the rippling pool of water. It was only then, however, that he heard the exclamations of the guide, whom had actually bellowing warnings to the foolish duo. "Hm, I wonder what he's saying," Ranma thought to himself as he squinted his eyes and tried to focus in on the man's voice.

"Spring of the drowned Giant Sloth? What the heck?" Ranma muttered to himself as he looked toward the guide skeptically. However his skepticism was immediately erased when a giant Bigfoot looking creature leapt out of the water, snarling at him, before lashing out with a giant paw. The blow was amazingly slow, but Ranma's shock and horror kept him from actually moving. That wasn't even mentioning the incredible amount of power that was actually behind the blow.

A wide eyed Ranma, who could only mutter, "Oh boy,", was hit full force by the blow and sent flying through the sky before hurtling down toward one of the pools below. However, just as it had occurred with his father, his trajectory was suddenly skewed when another powerful gust of wind whipped through causing him to plummet into another pool with a loud splash.

"OH NO!" the guide cried out in horror as he ran over to the pool in which Ranma fell. Now it was usually bad when one of his foolish honored visitors fell into one of the pools, but this particular pool was far worse then any of the others if only because of the repercussions that would follow. 'Foolish honorable visitor has just served himself a death sentence,' the guide thought to himself somewhat morosely. He knew of a certain group of Chinese Amazons that would not be happy to find out someone had fallen in that particularly spring.

Meanwhile Genma-sloth could only scratch his head in confusion before he realized that his nails seemed to be a bit sharper then usual. Looking down at his orange furry hands the elder Saotome nearly had a heart attack before his attention was drawn toward the sharp in take of breath from on of the pools below.

"Oh, this bad. You fall in Spring of Drowned Joketsuzoku Exile! It is tragic tale of exiled Joketsuzoku warrior who fall in spring and drown 250 years ago!" exclaimed the guide as he watched the young man surface. Well…at least he used to be a young man.

"What the heck Pop!" the young man snapped before noticing that his voice was a slightly higher pitch than usual. "Huh, that doesn't sound right," the boy muttered to himself noticing the change in his voice once again before looking downward. The look of horror that followed was almost palpable as he gazed down at what used to be his rock solid, chiseled, male chest. Gone were the perfectly tone pectorals, replaced by what looked to be a pair of double D's.

'Wow, haven't seen those since my last report card,' Ranma thought to himself idly, almost chuckling inwardly at his terrible joke. However, the moment of humor was short lived as he also noticed that his hair, which was once long and jet black, was now a brilliant sky blue and looked as though it extended down to the small of her back. Turning toward the guide, the once man now woman asked, rather calmly, "Would it be acceptable to scream now?" The guide's solemn nod was all she need as she loosed a blood curdling scream that was immediately dwarfed by the loud roar of some kind of unearthly engine.

Ranma-chan immediately silenced herself as she looked up toward the sky along with the gaping guide and the giant sloth. "You have got to be kidding me," Ranma-chan deadpanned as he gazed up toward the unbelievable sight of a sleek, blue, metallic airship floating just above his head.

The ship was only there for a moment, however, before it's engines roared to life, brilliant green flames erupting from the turbines, as it shot out toward an undisclosed location whipping up a series of powerful winds behind it that sent Ranma-chan, the guide, and Genma-sloth flying through the air and away from Jusenkyo.

_**----------------------------------**_

"Truly a martial artist's life if fraught with peril," Soun intoned dramatically, tears streaking out of his eyes, as Genma finished his tale.

"Indeed, had I known the springs were so dangerous I would never had allowed Ranma to coerce me into joining him for such risky training," Genma stated equally as dramatically as Ranma finally made himself known once again.

"Oh no you don't old man!" the pigtailed martial artist snapped angrily, "It was you who suggested that we go there. It was also you who was _supposedly_ reading up on the springs in the guide book. Too bad you don't know Chinese, huh?!"

"Oh my!" Kasumi explained wide eyed as Akane leveled a deadly glare at Genma, and Nabiki, who had been listening to the story with morbid fascination, started to twitch ever so slightly.

'Damn, what did I just get myself into,' the pageboy cut sporting brunette thought to herself in a panic, though her outward body language, aside from her slight twitch, betrayed no emotion. 'There has got to be a way out of this mess, there's no way I'm getting to some sex changer no mater **how** cute he may be,' Nabiki thought to herself as she looked toward her sisters hesitantly before a brilliant idea flickered to life in her mind. 'That's it! All I have to do is shift the engagement, but how?!' Nabiki thought to herself as she began to wrack her brain for solution. At present she didn't have any blackmail on Akane, and there wasn't really much she could do about Kasumi.

"Wow, well at least he doesn't have to worry about finding a wife that will accept him. I'm sure Nabiki is **still** glad to be his fiancée," Akane intoned with a devilish smirk spreading across her lips as she turned to face said girl.

Nabiki frowned deeply at that and was about to respond when Kasumi cut her off as well.

"My, I didn't know that you were **so understanding** Nabiki. I thought that surely after you heard about Ranma's curse you would be trying to shift the engagement to one of us. How surprising that you've remained silent. You must really be want to be engaged, how nice!" Kasumi exclaimed with a beautiful smile, though Nabiki could faintly make out the devious gleam in her sisters chocolate brown eyes.

'What the hell?! When did my sisters become so diabolical?!" Nabiki thought to herself almost totally floored by how quickly the pair had teamed up against her. 'Damn it! Things just got a lot harder then they needed to be!' Nabiki continued to think to herself before her line of thinking was abruptly cut off by her father wrapping her in a warm embrace.

"That's so mature and understanding of you Nabiki! To think that you would be willing to accept Ranma as he is! You are truly suited to be his fiancée! I can't tell you how proud I am!" Soun exclaimed as Nabiki loosed a low growl and shot a glare at her sisters, who simply smiled back warmly in response.

'This is so not over, not by a long shot,' Nabiki thought to herself, promising revenge.

"Uh, it's not like I'm carrying the plague here people," Ranma grumbled to himself as he listened to the family before him discuss how nice his potential fiancée was. Yeah his curse was a bit annoying, and he could understand if they were a little put off by it, but really now! It's not like he was a leper or something, and even then that would still be kind of mean!

Turning to his father, Ranma shot the older man a glare before bellowing, "This is all your fault!" With that he viciously kicked the old man out of the dining room, past the deck, and into the Tendo's koi pond. Sure it wasn't very nice, and since the sun had set the night air was infinitely cooler, but the old man had it coming. What the youth didn't expect was for Genma-sloth to shoot out of pond like a bullet train.

The youth absently wondered how the heck his father had managed to move so quickly, but that line of thinking was immediately cut off when the sloth lashed out with one of it's giant claws and sent the boy hurtling toward the koi pond as well which the boy landed in with a resounding splash.

"GASP!" Ranma-chan exclaimed as she shot out of the water both wide eyed and furious as she tried to reclaim her breath. "Hey! What's the big deal?!" Ranma-chan exclaimed as she bounded out of the water toward the sloth which simply shrugged its shoulders nonchalantly.

It was also at that time that both Nabiki and Akane glowered at the girl. Sure they had heard the story, but nothing compared to seeing the real thing. Ranma-chan was not only stacked, but she had a toned hourglass figure that any woman would kill for. Both girls knew that there wasn't really any reason for them to be jealous of the boy turned girl…aside from the fact that her hair seemed to glisten in the moonlight as it swung from side to side across the small of her back.

"Tch, pervert," Akane muttered underneath her breath. She knew it technically wasn't true, but it was still a little disturbing to see Ranma transform, and he seemed just a little too comfortable in his cursed form to her.

'Damn my luck,' was all Nabiki could think to herself as she continued to glower at the young man turned woman. She'd definitely have to find **some way** of switching the engagement.

Meanwhile, Ranma-chan had launched herself at Genma-sloth, who, surprisingly enough, had actually managed to raise his giant arms in front of him like a shield in an effort to block the attack. However, the act proved futile as Ranma-chan expertly double jumped above the creature's head before soaring down with a bone crunching kick that landed directly on the foolish sloth's head.

"Take that old man," Ranma-chan grumbled irritably as she leapt off the know unconscious Genma-sloth's head. "Anyway, I ain't gettin' engaged to no one, and that's final! I'm going back to China to find a cure!" the bluenette snapped as strode back into the dining room.

"Tch, more power to you," Nabiki muttered to herself with hint of hopefulness in her tone. If Ranma left on his own accord she may not even have to devise a way to shift the engagement.

"WHAM!"

'Never mind,' Nabiki thought to herself, wide eyed, as she watched Ranma-chan get floored by a sign to the head from Genma-sloth. Absently she wondered how the man turned giant sloth managed to recover so quickly…

-----------------------------------------------------------

"So…I heard you ran into Akane this morning," Nabiki, who was outfitted in her school uniform which consisted of a white blouse and pale blue dress, stated causally as she slowly munched on a pickle. One could almost hear the wickedness in her words, but she hid them just well enough.

"I guess you could say that," Ranma, who was donning his typical red Chinese shirt and black pants, muttered from his spot across the table as he continued to inhale his bowl of rice. 'Damn, who would have thought the girl had a right hook like **that**!" Ranma thought to himself as he set his bowl down and rubbed his puffy red, likely swollen, cheek. He still couldn't understand it. He had only accidentally walked in on her. Besides, they were both girls at the time and it's not like she even put up the do not disturb sign Kasumi had made for them.

"Yeah, but it's kind of cute right? I mean, she practices martial arts so that's just more you two have in common right?" Nabiki inquired with a hint of hopefulness in her tone, thought her body language once again betrayed no emotion.

"Tch, yeah right. I'd like to stay as far away from that violent tomboy as possible. Yeah she might be fun to do some light sparring with, but I'd hate to be the guy who ended up marrying her," Ranma replied as he started to inhale his bowl of rice once again.

'DAMN!' Nabiki thought to herself, her eyebrow twitching ever so slightly. 'Damn you Akane, how am I going to get this to work now?' the middle Tendo thought to herself, though it was not like she could even try to redeem the girl since she wasn't there.

As it turned out, their fathers had thought it would be romantic for the two to share breakfast together so they made sure that they were both scarce and that Akane had left for school early. Needless to say such an act of "kindness" did not go over well with Nabiki or Ranma.

'Aw what the heck, if she's not hear that just means she can't say anything to screw me up,' Nabiki thought to herself with a devious smirk forming on her lips as she slowly sipped her hot tea. Setting the cup down for a moment she looked Ranma, who had started to inhale the last of the pickles much to her annoyance, directly in the.

"Muhm, Mwat mis mit?" Ranma questioned with a mouthful of pickles and a concerned expression on his face.

Against her will Nabiki found the expression almost cute, aside from the disgusting green slime that comprised the inside of the boy's mouth, since he almost look like a little boy. Quickly obliterating that line of though, almost literally as her mental chibi-Nabiki's pound the thought with giant mallets, she said, "You know Akane's really not all that bad. I mean she gets good grades, she's always punctual, and she's really caring once you get to know her. She actually has the makings of a good new age Japanese mother."

Ranma looked at her puzzled for a moment, cocking an eyebrow, before loudly gulping down the pickles in his mouth and saying, "Well that's nice and all, but to be honest I'm really not interested in getting' married. After all, Pop said women just distract you from the Art."

It was Nabiki's turn to look confuse as she tried to assess what the boy had just said. "So you don't want to get married yet you haven't left because…" Nabiki drawled out as she waved her hands waiting for an explanation.

"Honor."

"Huh?"

"Honor."

"Huh?"

"I said honor?"

"I heard you, but I just didn't understand what you meant," Nabiki said irritably as she watched Ranma's face form into an "OH!" kind of look of understanding.

"Well Pop kinda got to talkin' to me about it last night. At first I thought he was just making it all up, but after about three hours it started to get confusing and confusing is usually a sign, at least for me, of things actually makin' sense. So, if I want to continue to practice the art he said I had have to maintain my honor, or something like that, which means I have to be engaged to you…at least I think that's what he said," Ranma replied with a nonchalant shrug before he started to finish off the last of the pickles.

'Wow, not only does he change sexes but he's just like all the other jocks. Brainless. Why to go Biki! That's what you get for jumping the gun!' Nabiki mentally chided herself as she calmly sipped the rest of her tea. "So what if I break off the engagement? Will you still be able to maintain your honor?" Nabiki inquired as she set down her tea. At least she found a loophole she could exploit.

Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging and saying, "Well I guess, Pop never said anything about you breaking off the engagement so I guess that might work."

Nabiki smiled a feral smile at that and was about to responded when their fathers burst into the room.

"Nabiki you will do not break off this engagement! It is a matter of family honor!" Soun exclaimed forcefully as Nabiki simply rolled her eyes at him.

"Whatever you say daddy," the brunette muttered. She knew the pair had been listening in, and she wanted them to be there when she either found a way to shift the engagement, so as to place it on Akane or Kasumi instead of her if Ranma showed a preference, or found a way to break it off. It was a decent plan, not one of her best of course, but decent nonetheless. Unfortunately things didn't work out quite the way she planned…

"Ranma! You must marry one of the Tendo girls, and since you don't seem to show any preference toward Akane you must remain engaged to Nabiki!" Genma snapped furiously as Ranma too rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say Pop," the pigtailed boy muttered. He had sensed both of the men outside the room as well, but really didn't care.

"Well this has been exciting, but I should be heading to school now," Nabiki stated casually as she rose from the table grabbing her black leather case and headed out of the room.

"Wait a moment Nabiki, you have to show Ranma the way to school too," Soun called out earning violently twitching eyebrows from both teens.

"What was that about school?" Ranma inquired as he looked up toward his father expectantly.

"Well since we're going to be staying here awhile it's necessary that you attend school. After all, an educated practitioner of the art can surpass one who is not," Genma stated sagely, nodding sharply to himself in self affirmation before Ranma spoke up again.

"That's not what you said on the road. And I quote, "School is for FOOLS!"," Ranma stated dramatically as both Soun and Nabiki looked at Genma as if to say "You're kidding, right?".

In response Genma could only sweat nervously before bonking his son on the head. "You're going and that's final! Now get up and escort your fiancée," Genma stated forcefully as he and Soun exited the room with Soun asking him, "Did you really say school is for fools? Old friend that has to be the worst catch phrase I've ever heard."

Meanwhile Nabiki and Ranma simply rolled their eyes, but did as their fathers commanded.

--------------------------------------------------------------

"Sooo, do you always walk on top of fences?" Nabiki inquired casually from her spot on the side walk as she gazed up toward the martial artist who was causally striding across the top of a gridiron fence.

"Yeah, it's good balance training," Ranma stated nonchalantly as he continued to walk a top the fence which just over looked a small river.

"Well you'd better make sure that you don't slip, otherwise it's 'SPLASH' and we all know what will happen then," Nabiki stated with a sly smirk as she watched Ranma pause for a moment considering her words with a thoughtful expression on his face.

After a moment Ranma simply shrugged and continued to walk across the fence saying, "I guess I'll just have to not slip." However, as his lack of luck would have it, at that moment his danger sense flared to life allowing him to narrowly manage to leap over a soaring bonbori that almost knocked him off of his perch.

"What was that?!" Nabik exclaimed wide eyed as she watched the giant red and black mallet soar through the air, followed by a series of swords and spears that the pigtailed martial artist nimbly dodged.

"Damn, they've found me already?!" Ranma hissed as he leapt off the fence beside Nabiki. "You need to get out of here quick!" Ranma snapped as he quickly pushed the girl forward.

"Hey don't just push mEEE!" the girl exclaimed in fright, whipping around just as a bonbori streaked by the spot where she was standing and obliterated a section of the fence.

"Hurry up! If they see you with me they're going to try to kill you too!" Ranma exclaimed, his eyes wild and his voice full of concern. If the girl stayed around him too much longer he was really going to be in trouble. It was bad enough when they attacked his father and him, since the portly man was actually able to defend himself, but Ranma held no illusions that if he had to defend Nabiki they would both end up dead. After all the Joketsuzoku were not to be trifled with as fighters.

"We find you!" exclaimed a bubbly, almost insane voice, as Ranma got into a defensive stance and Nabiki turned to run.

"Yeah, well good for you. I've got to warn you though; this is going to end just like the other 27 times we've fought. You must really like eating dirt Lotion!" Ranma snapped as he watched a trio of cloaked figures approach. One was perched atop as lamppost with what looked to be a spear poised to strike, another was craftily hidden within the shadows of a nearby store front, and the last was slowly approaching him with a pair of Chinese swords in her hands.

"You talk big for dead man, Ranma," the girl stated menacingly as she came closer and tossed aside her ratty beige cloak. Standing before the pigtailed martial artist was a striking young woman with long, flowing sandy blond hair and a bust that rivaled his own in his female form. She wore an extravagantly designed green, Chinese shirt, which featured, in gold, a Chinese dragon, and a pair of black kung fu pants similar to Ranma's. She also had a pair of striking, if not borderline insane, green eyes.

"Nah, unlike you I back my talk up," Ranma stated with a cocky smirk finding it's way onto his lips as he watched Lotion scowl and take up her usual stance, her swords poised and ready to strike. "Oh! Hi to you too Dye and Lace," Ranma greeted in faux friendliness as the pair of girls who had remained behind their fearless leader leveled a spear and a set of bonboris, respectively, at the cocky martial artist. "By the way, where's Shampoo? I don't see her," Ranma commented as Lotion's scowl almost immediately shifted into a malicious smirk.

"Shampoo go after Ranma's little friend," Lotion replied, her smirk growing wider as she watched Ranma's cocky smile slide off his face only to be replaced with a look of dread. "I no worry about her now if I you Ranma," Lotion said as her muscles tensed, "It might distract you!" With that the girl launched her self at the scowling Ranma.

The pigtailed martial artist easily leapt over the girl's razor sharp blades as she slashed out at him with a lighting quick horizontal swipe. Ranma deftly did a spin twist in the air, flipping over the blonde, before landing on his toes and springing at the scowling young woman. He then lashed out with a lighting quick kick that the girl barely managed to duck under before being forced to leap over a lighting fast sweep kick.

Scowling, Lotion retreated back a few steps as Ranma quickly sprang back up into his defensive stance.

'Damn, I've got to hurry up and get to Nabiki. If Shampoo gets to her first she's as good as dead,' Ranma thought to himself, still scowling, before nimbly sidestepping and ducking under a set of vertical and horizontal sword swipes. He then lashed out with a set of lighting quick kicks that Lotion barely managed to block with the sides of her swords. It was also at that moment that Ranma's danger sense flared even more altering the young man to the fact that Dye and Lace had decided to join the fight. It was clear, at least to them and Ranma, that Lotion was being over powered.

"RANMA DIE!" came a pair of feminine voices as the duo threw off their ratty cloaks and lashed out with their weapons. One, a buxom young woman with shoulder length jet black hair and wearing a simple set of blue Chinese robes, lashed out with her spear expertly as Ranma barely managed to avoid getting skewered by twisting himself at an awkward angle before lashing out with a vicious kick that struck the girl in the chest.

Normally the heir to the Anything Goes School would adamantly refuse to fight girls, but if the past month had taught him anything it was that Chinese Amazons could easily be placed in the "Dude" category.

Dye clutched her chest and scowled, slightly winded by the blow, before leaping at the pigtailed martial artist once again.

Meanwhile Ranma barely managed to duck under a lighting quick horizontal attack from a bonbori as a young woman, with her long orange hair tied back in a loose ponytail, scowled and tried to bring her other bonbori down on the pigtailed youth's head. Ranma once again barely managed to avoid the strike, which completely obliterated the concrete and left a giant smoking crater, by nimbly tucking and rolling to his side. The orange haired girl cursed at this before adjusting her orange chest armor, which was inscribed with a set of golden Chinese characters, over her plain white shirt and quickly dusted off her rather stylish white capris that flared out at the calf.

Lotion, seeing a chance to take advantage of the boy's exposed condition, tried to bring her swords down on the boy as he untucked himself. However, it appeared as though Dye had the same idea as she lashed out with her spear. Luckily for Ranma, and unfortunately for the girls, the two managed to deflect each others blows allowing the shocked Ranma the moment he needed to roll away to safety once more and spring to his feet.

'That was close,' the pigtailed martial artist thought to himself with a slight frown forming on his face as he watched the pair begin to curse one another for getting in the other's way. It was during that brief moment of reprise that Ranma realized one very important thing. It was only due to the fact that he and his father had fought two on one with the girls individually that he had managed to survive as long as he had. Three on one were terrible odds considering the fact that he had trouble beating the girls when it was just two on one.

However, his mental musings were cut short as his danger sense flared to life once again and he barely managed to cock his head to the side and avoid another launched bonbori. 'Damn hidden weapons technique, she barely even has any sleeves!' Ranma mentally cursed as he narrowly dodged another of Lace's bonboris by diving to the side. However, that left him vulnerable to the other three she had launched at him, seemingly out of nowhere, that where currently hurtling toward the gaping martial artist. There was absolutely no way he could dodge them, even by twisting, and trying to deflect them with his bare hands was suicidal at best.

'DAMN IT!' Ranma mentally cursed once again and gritted his teeth before closing his eyes and preparing to embrace his end. However, a loud "THUNK!" forced the boy to open his eyes as he watched the bonboris get intercepted by both a spear and a sword. Ranma almost smiled until he realized that the spear, which had struck the bonbori at an awkward angle and was bent back and ready to spring forward at any moment. Unfortunately, said moment was right when it soared next to Ranma. The end of the spear smack the boy directly in his chest, earning a pained moan and sharp intake of breath, before the boy was catapulted through the gridiron fence and plummeted into the water below with a loud splash.

Now the trio of Amazon warriors, who had been bickering again until they realized their advantage, smirked maliciously as they ran over to the gaping Ranma sized hole and gazed down toward the stream to see when the boy turned girl would submerge. All three had their weapons read again, with Lotion and Dye quickly retrieving theirs, and they waited patiently thinking to themselves, 'Just a few more seconds. He can't hold his breath forever.'

However, after about 10 minutes, the trio started to realize one thing. The boy could easily swim down stream and escape. It was at that moment of realization that the trio's faces contorted into vicious snarls before bellowing in unison…

"RANMA!!!!"

-------------------------------------------------------------

"What was that all about?" Nabiki wheezed, her eyes wide, as she continued to sprint down the seemingly empty street. She didn't know what was going on, but suffice to say she really didn't want to know either. The fact that she had nearly been killed just moments earlier did not bode well with her.

'Damn that boy, what did he just get me involved in?' Nabiki thought to herself bitterly as she scowled at the memory of the pigtailed martial artist. Nabiki Tendo was not the kind of person to get directly involved in conflicts. In fact she actually preferred to stand passively on the sidelines and take bets. Only those she knew she could win of course.

However, the girl's mental musings were cut short when she felt a sharp breeze ruffled hair and felt something fly just over her shoulder. It wasn't until two seconds, and a giant explosion of concrete, later that she noticed a yellow and green bonbori sticking up out of a crater in the sidewalk.

"You, girl, you know Ranma?" came a heavily accented female voice from behind the middle Tendo as she continued to gape at the bonbori on a meter in front of her.

One thought, and one though alone, flashed through the girl's mind at that very moment. 'I am so going to die.'

"Hey! I speak to you! Are you friend of Ranma?!" came the belligerent female voice once again as Nabiki slowly turned around to face her assailant. The girl who stood before her, Nabiki mentally noted, was clearly Chinese, although she looked extremely exotic with her long lavender coloured hair done up in ondangos, if her style of dress, a lavender colored long sleeve Chinese shirt and a pair of white kung fu pants, was any indication. She also noted that she had a bust that rivaled Ranma's in his cursed form, and was just as pretty to boot.

Nabiki quickly brought herself back to the present after a moment and replied, "Um, no?" She knew it was a long shot, since the girl had likely seen her talking to Ranma just moments before, but she figured it was worth a shot if the girl's broken Japanese was any indication of mental incompetence. It's not like she had any real way of dealing with the girl, she was clearly a skilled martial artist and Nabiki was just a regular…well not that regular, but regular enough high school girl.

Even so, it appeared that their ploy might have had a chance at succeeding as the foreigner titled her head to the side and looked puzzled. However, her hopes were immediately dashed when the girl scowled and leveled her bonbori at her.

"You must think Shampoo too too stupid just because she can not speak Japanese too too well. Well Shampoo knows you Ranma's friend, and Ranma's friends are for killing!" the Amazon snapped as she lashed out with her bonboris drawn back and ready to strike.

Nabiki, her eyes wide with horror, reflexively rolled to her side and narrowly avoided a bonbori that, if it would have hit, would have caused her head to explode, but instead destroyed more of the concrete. The brunette shuddered and tried to repress the morbid thought. Such distractions could easily cost the girl her life.

"L-L-Look, I just meet the guy alright! You can have him if you want! In fact I'd appreciate it if you took the guy off my hands!" Nabiki exclaimed, her voice cracking, as she rose to her feet with fear in her eyes. While she had originally tried to maintain her infamous rock solid composure, she found it exceptionally difficult to do so when her possible death was staring her right in the face.

Her words didn't have much effect, however, as the Amazon shot her another death glare. "Shampoo no want stupid Ranma! Ranma is for killing! Ranma's friends for killing to for associating with him! Is Amazon Law!" Shampoo snapped hotly. With that said Shampoo lashed out at the girl once again.

Nabiki reflexively rolled to the side once again, but the Amazon had anticipated this and had readied her other bonbori. Much to Nabiki's horror she could only watch as the vision of green and yellow descended upon her. She wanted to scream, to cry, to do anything at all, but she found herself completely petrified with fear. Then one thought ran through her mind.

'Ranma!'

Almost as if on cue the sea of green and yellow that was once aimed at her head was violently launched into the sky only to be replaced by the vision of a pair of dripping wet kung fu shoes.

"That was just a little too close," she heard a serious, though slightly accented voice, state darkly as her heart stopped pounding in her head and her body relaxed somewhat.

'Damn that jerk cut it close,' Nabiki thought to herself, smiling a relieved smile against her will as she sat up, the foot having been removed from her line of vision, and saw Ranma-chan glaring at the snarling Shampoo.

"How many times do I have to tell you Shampoo?! Your fight's with me! Got it?!" Ranma-chan snapped, her chest heaving and her breathing ragged. She was soaked to the bone, but it didn't seem to faze the boy turned girl as she got into a defensive fighting stance.

"This ends now Bonbori Girl," Ranma-chan intoned darkly as Shampoo smirked and nodded.

"You right about that Ranma. This end now!" the Amazon snapped as she sprang into action and lashed out with her bonbori once again. Ranma nimbly twisted to his side, surprising the Amazon warrior somewhat, before he buried his knee in her stomach.

"I really wanted to take it easy on you Shampoo, since you're a girl and all, but I can't have you hurting anymore of my friends!" Ranma-chan snapped angrily as she watched the lavender haired girl writhe on the ground in pain. 'Damn, maybe I hit her just a little too hard,' Ranma-chan thought to herself as his expression softened and he felt a little regret creep into him. "Jeez, um, uh…I'm sorry Shampoo, I didn't mean to hit youWHOA!" Ranma-chan exclaimed as she barely leapt back in time to avoid the sharp upward thrust of a bonbori.

Quickly flipping away, Ranma-chan glared at the smirking Amazon girl as she rose to her feet chuckling darkly.

"You think you can hurt Shampoo that easy? Ranma too too stupid. Shampoo is warrior, it take a lot more than a weak kick to hurt her," the Amazon stated coldly as she leveled a glare at the pigtailed martial artist before roaring and lashing out once again.

Ranma-chan idly noted that he seemed to have gotten her both angrier and more focused as her speed increased dramatically. Fortunately, due to her transformation, Ranma-chan had earned a decent speed boost that had allowed her to still have a slight advantage. The only problem was that it cost her some of the strength she had in her male form…though right now that wasn't really much of a bad thing.

Ranma-chan nimbly ducked and rolled under another set of bonbori swipes that continued to cause unnecessarily destructive collateral damage. However, as she nimbly dodged another bonbori swipe, her danger sense flared up to the point that she very nearly froze up. Quickly rolling to the side Ranma-chan once again narrowly dodged a spear, a sword, and a set of bonboris.

"Damn!" the pigtailed girl snapped as she quickly sprang to her feet and glared at a certain trio of Chinese Amazons, who now stood on top of a nearby four story building smirking down at him. 'Tch, persistent aren't they,' Ranma-chan thought to herself, smirking back against her will. However, it was also at that moment, unless by some miracle she managed to find a way to escape, her fate, and that of Nabiki's, was immanent death. However, her mental musings were once again cut short as her danger sense flared up and she twisted his body at an extremely awkward angle to avoid a horizontal and vertical combination of strikes from Shampoo.

The pigtailed girl then ducked to the side narrowly avoiding another pair of flying bonbori, before she was forced to roll under a set of lighting fast spear thrust less she be turned into a pin cushion. Quickly springing to her feet, and then into the air, Ranma-chan barely manage to avoid decapitation as Lotion swiped horizontal, both high and low, in an effort to perhaps severe the girl into three pieces. Although the girl didn't completely miss her mark Ranma-chan idly noted as she watched a pair of rather reveling cut marks form across her shirt, and noted the shallow cut that formed on her bosom and stomach.

However, it wasn't until the youth landed that she realized her mistake. The quartet had actually managed to back her into a wall and had managed to close off all pathways of escape by tightly encircling her. 'Tch, I should have seen this coming,' Ranma-chan thought to herself leveling a glare at Dye before thinking, 'Damn strategist, without her I might have had a chance.' As it was Ranma-chan knew that any effort at escape now was likely futile, but that didn't mean she was going to go down without a fight.

Quickly adopting a defensive stance once more, Ranma-chan glared at her attackers and prepared to strike when a loud "GONG!" echoed throughout the street.

Shampoos eyes, wide for a moment with pain and surprise, immediately rolled to the back of her head as she slumped to the ground unconscious.

"Friends are for killing," Nabiki mocked in a whine sarcastic voice with a scoff and a glare as she stared down at the unconscious Amazon. In her hands she held a rusted metal pipe that Ranma couldn't even manage where she had managed to procure it. However, Nabiki's moment of triumph was short lived, however, when the remaining three Amazons, initially shocked and dumbfounded, regained their wits and growled at her.

"Uh oh!" Nabiki exclaimed, wide eyed, as she started to back away fearfully. 'What was I thinking!?' the girl thought to herself for a moment before it occurred to her exactly what she was thinking. She knew that if the quartet had actually managed to skewer, crush, dice, etc. Ranma she would be next on the list and there was no way she could take down all four of them when she couldn't even take on one. Breathing a sigh of relief Nabiki thought to herself, 'For a minute there I was worried I had gone a risked my life for Ranma.'

A trio of bloodlust cries immediately brought Nabiki to the present as the trio of Amazon warriors sprang forward to attack her. Nabiki quickly ducked and rolled out the way as she watched Ranma-chan intercept Lace with an axe kick from behind that knocked her out cold.

The other two girls immediately spun around, forgetting Nabiki, and turned their attention back towards Ranma-chan. However, with the odds now stacked in her favor Ranma-chan simply chuckled as the duo lashed out with their weapons.

The bluenette deftly weaved through a series of lighting quick spear thrust, before getting right up on the shocked Dye. Ranma-chan smiled wickedly at the gaping girl for only a moment before pulling the girl close, causing her to blush and freeze up against her will, and tapped a pressure point behind the girl's neck. Dye was knocked out cold almost immediately, and Ranma-chan allowed her body to slowly slump to the ground before turning her attention back to Lotion, who was actually starting to sweat nervously.

"Well, what are you waiting for? I thought I was all talk and no skill?" Ranma-chan questioned darkly as Lotion's worried look was wiped clean off her face and was immediately replaced with a defiant scowl. The blonde then leapt at the pigtailed marital artist, her blades poised and ready to pierce. Ranma-chan immediately rolled to the side as the swords impaled themselves into the concrete.

'Hehe, gotcha,' the bluenette thought to herself as she prepared to strike out at the blonde only to receive a dainty, but incredibly powerful, foot to her jaw that sent her reeling. It seemed that Lotion had managed to perform a sharp side kick while still holding onto her swords before spinning and yanking the swords out of the ground in one fluid motion.

'Wow, she must have been practicing since I last fought her,' Ranma-chan idly thought to herself as she quickly sprang to her feet in just enough time to avoid a sword swipe. 'I've got to get her off balance,' the bluenette thought to herself before she noticed the craters out of the corners of her eyes. 'Hehe, I've got it,' the girl thought to herself as she back flipped over toward the craters, Lotion not far behind.

As soon as the pigtailed girl landed Lotion began to lash out with a series of lighting quick sword swipes that Ranma-chan barely managed to duck and dodge, much to the bluenette's surprise. 'Wow, I didn't realize Lotion was this fast before,' the girl idly thought to herself as she leapt over a sword swipe and bounced off Lotion's head, infuriating the blonde even more.

However, that was all she need as the kicked manage to knock Lotion off balance enough that she actually managed to slip on the edge of a crater. Seeing her opportunity, Ranma-chan quickly sprung behind the girl before hitting her in the same pressure point that he had just used against Dye.

Lotion too was knocked unconscious almost instantly as she collapsed in the crater.

Breathing a sigh of relief Ranma-chan looked down at her shirt once more and frowned slightly thinking, 'And this was on of my favorites.'

Meanwhile Nabiki, who had stared on in awe at how the boy turned girl had fought, started to stride over toward the bluenette. "Well, since we probably missed school, do you just want to head home?" the girl questioned casually as the martial artist neck to her simply shrugged.

"Meh, why not," Ranma-chan replied with a warm smile almost made Nabiki blush.

"By the way, you know you're going to have to tell me what all this was about, right?" the brunette questioned.

"Yeah, I know," the bluenette replied darkly with a grave nod as they turned to leave. "I'm warning you though, it's a long story and it ain't pretty."

"Well, Saotome, I consider those the best kind of stories," Nabiki stated with a mischievous smirk that caused Ranma-chan to smirk as well.

"If you say so, if you say so…"

With that the duo started walking back home leaving the unconscious Amazons where they lay as the sun set blanketing the town in a soft orange hue.

"Hey Ranma?"

"Yeah?"

"…what was with the hug back there?"

"Uhhh…LAST ONE HOME'S A ROTTEN EGG!"

"…dumb jock."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Almost two hours later, after the sun had finished setting and the dark streets were lit by streetlights, the Amazon's awoke rubbing their heads and groaning.

"_He beat us again didn't he?_" Dye questioned irritably in Chinese as she rubbed the back of her neck. She was still a little upset about she had reacted to the hug. It just wasn't very mature for a warrior to freeze up like that just because an attractive female had pressed her warm body against her…it was at that moment that Dye thanked the gods for the fact that she was still hidden in the dark since she was now blushing a bright red.

"_You can say that again_," Lace groaned out as she clutched her aching head and frowned deeply. She'd have to remember to carry a helmet within her sleeves the next time she fought Ranma.

"_Well at least __**he**__ took us out, and not his talent less little friend. 'Eh Xian Pu?_" Lotion stated as she started to pull herself out of the crater she had been in, chuckling all the while.

"_Shut up Lotion, otherwise I'll make it my priority to kill you before I kill him and his little friend_," Shampoo muttered darkly, rubbing the back of her head which she knew to be swollen, as she shot the girl a death glare that instantly shut the blonde up. "_Anyway, this isn't over."_

"_Not by a long shot…"_

**To Be Continued…**

**Author's Note: Okay, for those of you who actually made it this far, I'm sure you probably have a lot of questions. I'm sure one of them is, "How the heck is this supposed to work out?! I doesn't make any sense! Amazons?! You have them fighting Amazons?! How do you get from Amazons to Airships? WTF E.O.!". Well all I can say to you, o' impatient one, is to wait and see. Everything is connected I assure you.**

**Additionally, any other questions will subsequently be answered as the story progresses.**

**Anyway, the next chapter is going to involve the arrival of everyone's favorite Lost Boy, so be on the look out for it! Until then, I'm going to take a rest. This was a long first chapter for me…hehe.**


End file.
